Sporting KC forward Teal Bunbury suffers season-ending knee injury

Sporting Kansas City forward Teal Bunbury suffered a torn ACL and damaged LCL in his left knee during Sunday’s 1-1 draw against the New York Red Bulls, the team announced on Monday. Bunbury will undergo surgery on Friday under the care of the team’s orthopedic surgeon Dr. Scott Luallin and is expected to miss six to eight months.

The injury occurred in the fourth minute of last night’s match in a collision with Red Bulls goalkeeper Bill Gaudette, as Bunbury set up Kei Kamara’s goal.

Bunbury, 22, has five goals and one assist this season in 22 regular season matches to increase his career totals to 21 goals and six assists in three MLS seasons (including playoffs) since being selected fourth overall in the 2010 MLS SuperDraft out of Akron. Bunbury’s 21 goals in MLS competition (including playoffs) are the most among all active MLS players 23 years of age or younger.

After contributing five goals and two assists in his rookie campaign, Bunbury led Sporting KC in scoring last season with 11 goals in MLS competition (including playoffs).

Bunbury debuted for the U.S. Men’s National Team in November 2010 and scored in his second appearance in January 2011. He most recently started a pair of U.S. international friendlies in January, assisting on Graham Zusi’s game-winning goal in a 1-0 win at Panama.

Sporting Kansas City, currently in first place in the Eastern Conference, will host Toronto FC at 7:30 p.m. CT on Saturday at LIVESTRONG Sporting Park. Tickets for the match, sponsored by Capitol Federal, are available at Ticketmaster.com or at the LSP Box Offices.